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The point of this page
Two kinds of before and after
The first is easy to photograph: a room that changed. The second is the one that matters: a person who changed. This page shows both, and it is honest about which one took longer.
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?Isaiah 43:18 and 19
Part one, the house
From a borrowed hall to a settled home
Drag the handle across the image. Left is the community hall the church rented in 2017. Right is the sanctuary the same congregation fills today.
2017, the hall
Today, the sanctuary
Then
Set up and pack down
Every Sunday the team arrived at six to carry chairs in, and stayed until two to carry them back out again.
Then
One room for everything
Children, worship, prayer and the sermon all happened in the same space, at the same volume.
Now
A house that stays put
A permanent sanctuary, a kids wing, an office, and a prayer room that is open through the week.
Line by line
Then, and now
Sample figures prepared for this concept. The church office will confirm the real numbers.
2017, the first year
Today
One service, about 30 people
Two services, more than 430 people
English only
English and French every Sunday
No children’s programme
Kids ministry for ages 3 to 12, with screened volunteers
One home fellowship
Fourteen small groups across the city
Outreach whenever we could afford it
A monthly mercy programme with a standing budget
No one sent out
Two church plants in preparation
Part two, the life
The building work God actually cares about
A church can renovate a hall in a season. A person takes longer, costs more, and is worth incomparably more.
Before Christ
In Christ
Before
Carrying it alone
Shame keeps a person on the edge of a room. It tells you that if these people knew, they would move away from you.
After
Known and still welcome
Confession in a safe house does the opposite. People move towards you, and the thing loses its grip.
Marriages
Counselling that tells couples the truth, followed by a community that keeps checking on them afterwards.
Households
Budgeting help, debt counselling and honest teaching about money that does not benefit the preacher.
Callings
People who arrived broken now lead worship, run the kids ministry, and carry the prayer altar.
In their own words
Six afters, still in progress
Every account below is placeholder copy written for this concept. Real testimonies will replace them only after each person has given written consent, and no photograph will be used without permission.
I came in angry and broke, sitting at the back so nobody would talk to me. Somebody talked to me anyway. Two years later I lead a small group.
Placeholder nameMember since 2022
Our marriage was finished on paper. The counselling here did not flatter us, it told us the truth. We are still together and our children have their home back.
Placeholder nameMembers since 2019
I arrived in this city with no papers and no French speakers in my life. The Sunday second service was the first familiar thing I had heard in months.
Placeholder nameMember since 2023
I was drinking to sleep. The men here did not lecture me, they phoned me every morning for a year. That is what broke it.
Placeholder nameMember since 2021
My son was the reason I first came. I sat in the car park during the service. On the fourth Sunday I came inside.
Placeholder nameMember since 2020
I had money and nothing else. This house taught me what to do with it, and gave me people who would tell me no.
Placeholder nameMember since 2018
0
Believers baptised
0
Small groups
0+
Families helped this year
0
Church plants in preparation
Sample figures for this concept, awaiting confirmation from the church office.
Your before is not the end of the story
If you want someone to pray with you, or you simply want to sit at the back and watch for a while, both are welcome here.